TRANSPORTATION TUES: Share a Cab with RideAmigos.com

Ever found yourself in need of a cab ride, but thinking that it is simply too expensive, and let’s face it, not too green? That’s precisely what Jeffrey Chernick and Evan Meyer had in mind when they conceived Rideamigos.com, an online cab sharing service. Their thinking was if I’m going somewhere in a cab, and you’re going to that same place in a cab, we might as well go together. It’s a simple, but oft overlooked, rideshare idea that is catching on.

While New York is famous for being easy to get around in public transportation, sometimes you need to get to get a cab to get to your destination. Riding in a cab is not cheap, and while greener than owning a vehicle, it is a bit of a waste to drive one person from one end of town to the other.

The website allows you to look for people that are traveling to a common destination on a one trip basis, recurring, or both. Have a number of people that work at the same place? A number of people going to the same concert? You can all find yourselves together at the website. And naturally, if you know in advance that you will be using a cab, you might as well post the ride and see if anyone wants to share a cab with you.

The website has another useful function. It will tell you how much CO2 you’ll be saving by sharing a cab with someone else. And it isn’t limited to New York, as users are posting rides from all over the US. So why would you use the the service? Well, worst-case scenario, you share a ride (and a lower carbon footprint) with a stranger. In the best case you may just make a new eco-minded friend.